Family settles with officer whose K9 killed Alabama man in 2018

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The family of a man killed by a police dog in Montgomery, Ala., has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit against the police officer who handled the animal, but their attorneys said Friday they plan to appeal the ruling. which relieved the city of responsibility.

The confidential settlement was reached in July in the 2019 lawsuit against Montgomery Officer Nicholas Barber, who was responsible for the K9 that attacked and killed then-50-year-old Joseph Pettaway in 2018.

Pettaway was sleeping in a small house where he was employed as a handyman when officers responded to a call reporting an unknown occupant, according to court documents. Almost immediately after officers arrived, Barber released the dog into the home where it found Pettaway and bit him in the groin.

The bite severed Pettaway’s femoral artery, autopsy reports showed. Officers pulled Pettaway outside, where he bled to death while waiting for paramedics, according to the family’s lawsuit.

“I hope the family’s case brings some closure to something that has been a long time coming,” said their attorney, Griffin Sikes.

The Associated Press has investigated and documented thousands of cases in the US where police tactics considered non-lethal have resulted in deaths. The nationwide database includes Pettaway’s case.

The suit also named the city of Montgomery and its police chief at the time, Ernest Finley, alleging that officers were instructed not to administer first aid.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that cities and counties are responsible for administering health care when they arrest someone,” Sikes said. “We think they failed to do that in this case, and it’s not a failure of individual officers, it’s a failure of the city to say you don’t have to provide medical care.”

Claims against the city and the chief were dismissed, but Sikes said the Pettaways plan to appeal.

Attorneys for Barber, Finley and the City of Montgomery did not respond to a request for comment sent by The Associated Press Friday morning.

Body camera footage showing what happened has never been made public. It took years of litigation for the Pettaways and their lawyers to see them through. The judge sided with the city, which said disclosing them could create “the potential for protests that could endanger the safety of law enforcement officers, public and private property.”

U.S. Magistrate Jerusha T. Adams suggested that the family was “trying to try this case in the informal court of public opinion rather than in the courtroom.”

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Safiyah Riddle reported from Montgomery. Riddle is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative Corps. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.

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